SPACECRAFT ARRIVES FOR OVERHAUL.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. Atlantis returned Friday to Palmdale for a $70 million, 10-month modification program. Carried atop a NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. 747 jumbo jet, the shuttle arrived just after noon at Air Force Plant 42 before a gathering of workers and hundreds of spectators - as well as three coyotes that ran across the runway as the jet touched down. The arrival ended a cross-country trip from Florida that began Tuesday but was delayed by rainstorms. ``A lot of us have been sitting on pins and needles pins and needles pl.n. A tingling sensation felt in a part of the body numbed from lack of circulation. Idiom: on pins and needles In a state of tense anticipation. waiting,'' said Allen Hoffman, director of Boeing's Palmdale space shuttle modification operations. ``It's a different pace, a different mood, when there's an orbiter here.'' Atlantis is scheduled to be moved from its 747 carrier this morning and taken to the same hangar where it was built 12 years ago. Inspection work will begin immediately on the spacecraft, which has logged 60 million miles in space. Some 350 workers - about 50 more than needed for Endeavour, the last orbiter in for modifications in Palmdale - will disassemble dis·as·sem·ble v. dis·as·sem·bled, dis·as·sem·bling, dis·as·sem·bles v.tr. To take apart: disassemble a toaster. v.intr. 1. , inspect, replace parts and modernize Atlantis. Boeing is still hiring the last of the workers. The spacecraft will get glass-cockpit treatment - touch-screen electronic display panels - to replace its 1970s video screens and mechanical gauges, and workers also will install a modern global positioning navigation system A GPS-based electronic system in a car or truck that provides a real time map of the vehicle's current location as well as step-by-step directions to a programmed destination. See GPS and vehicle tracking. , using signals from orbiting satellites that the shuttle fleet helped launch to tell where it is in space. Work on Atlantis will include 50 major modifications, including addition of a storage module for parts that will be used in the construction of the International Space Station and replacement of a docking device designed to fit the Russians' Mir with one for the International Space Station. In all, Atlantis will receive 443 inspections and 323 modifications. Work will include X-raying every inch, Hoffman said. Work on Atlantis will be done by Boeing as a subcontractor to United Space Alliance, a company formed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin to manage space shuttle operations. A preflight pre·flight adj. Preparing for or occurring before flight. tr.v. pre·flight·ed, pre·flight·ing, pre·flights To check (an aircraft) for airworthiness before flight. checkout - work normally done at the Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) U.S. launch site for manned space missions. [U.S. Hist.: WB, So:562] See : Astronautics in Florida - also will be performed in Palmdale. That is expected to cut one or two months off the time needed to get the spacecraft ready for its next flight. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) Riding piggyback piggyback 1. A broker trading in his or her personal account after trading in the same security for a customer. The broker may believe the customer has access to privileged information that will cause the transaction to be profitable. 2. on a 747 jumbo jet, the space shuttle Atlantis arrives in Palmdale on Friday for a $70 million make-over that will keep about 350 workers on the job for 10 months. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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